OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories VICTA Models MODEL - Sheerline - c1960-61

Hello ODK History Lovers
Victa's second decade of production - the 1960s - was as dramatic a change by any company in
Australian lawnmower history. I would describe Victa's rise as a somewhat controlled explosion;
a meteoric rise of unprecedented proportions ...

How did Victa introduce its plan?

In late 1960, the Victa group - Victa Consolidated Industries Pty Ltd - would announce that it
would become a public company, know as Victa Development Corporation Ltd. This was a change
in focus from the company's view expressed in their mid-1950's self-funded model in their
development of the company at that time. The 1960s was Victa's time and a new era in their history.

This is the History Record for the Victa Sheerline, the introductory model for the 'swinging' 1960s.
The chronology of the Sheerline has been misunderstood and this article attempts to correct the record.

The Sheerlines were Victa's Model 6 and Model 9 mowers. By accepted chronological logic, the Model 6
was designed prior to the Model 9. But that is not how the Sheerline was introduced!



Advertising records in print and TV advertising show the first production Sheerline was the Model 9 -
a beautiful, stylised lawnmower that broke the 'toecutter' mould that represented Victa's 1950's designs.

The Sheerline represented a radical change in Victa's design philosophy - Victa's first fixed-skirt alloy
base; Victa's first lawnmower to take a factory-made grass catcher.



TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART TWO - Sheerline Features & Advertising
I cannot stress enough the approach Victa took for the new decade. In early 1961,
Victa would announce a sales milestone - half-a-million mower sales. Victa was on an
expansion and sales record trajectory.

The Sheerline was introduced as a three-model line-up: the Victa Standard; the Victa Four
Star; and the Victa Sheerline. The Sheerline was introduced alongside Victa's first 4-stroke,
the Four Star. Factory pricing is telling: the 4-stroke (62 guineas), Sheerline (56 guineas),
and the Standard (49 guineas).

The new design philosophy was incorporated into Victa's first 4-stroke, the 4-Star, and the Sheerline.
The Standard would be the remnant 'toe-cutter' design from the 1950s.

The biggest change was a skirted base that could much better control projectiles and - the second
reason - enable superior grass collection. If you wanted to turn grass into lawn (and make it easy)
then Victa had to engage in grass catcher designs that had been used on other rotaries for about
three decades!

The Sheerline (and its 4-stroke equivalent) did this. These were the first Victas with a fixed, skirted
alloy base and the first Victas to offer a grass catcher.

The Sheerline was the first Victa to offer 'instant' height adjustment too! The lever and segment design
had won the day, and it still survives to this day. Victa's use of a rotary wheel on its late 1950's mowers
were slow, complex, expensive-to-make, and made it difficult to pre-set desired heights of cut. A Better
design had won the day.

ADVERTISING
All the advertising records I have found indicate that the Model 9 preceded the introduction of the
Model 6 Sheerline - and why wouldn't that be so! The focus was on STYLE - a streamlined new
cowling with integral fuel tank, a new height adjuster, a hush-tone muffler, and Victa's first grass
catcher, that would not have looked out-of-place as a side-car on a fast motorcycle. Brilliant!

PART THREE - Television Advertisement c1960
It would be remiss not to cover a great and early piece of Victa Television advertising.
Television was gaining unprecedented take-up rates in Australian homes, and Victa
capitalised on this. The 1960s would usher in a high-budget advertising strategy at Victa -
in print, radio, TV and even localised events. To become an Australian icon required a
large advertising budget and Victa engaged the best agencies of the day.

The introduction of the Sheerline was accompanied by a TV ad that captured the new decade.
For me, the ad was clearly North American inspired - combining elements of that nation's
contribution to the Arts: Jazz and the Musical.

This is an ad with no storyline. Later Victa ads would change that.
But this fantastic Sheerline ad conveyed a different, simpler message.
This was a highly stylised ad with all pizzazz - a catchy jingle with animation,
and a simple call to action - "So, pick up your phone, there's a man at your door" ,
to demonstrate the Sheerline!

Victa sales were built upon the direct demonstration, the main method of selling
all domestic lawnmowers in the 1950s and 1960s. Brilliant!


TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART FOUR � Parts Manual
Here is the Victa V1 Green Book exposition of the Sheerline.

PART FIVE - Sheerline Model 6
So, what about the other Sheerline - the Model 6?
When did it make an appearance?

This more conservative cowling and top-mounted fuel tank appears to have entered
Victa production - for Victas - in late 1961, for the 1962 Victa range. The beautiful,
streamlined, Model 9 cowling would now be used on the Victa Standard, the last
remnant of Victa 1950's naming conventions.


SOURCE: Victa News Cuttings, June, 1961

Note that this is Victa's first naming of 'Utility' - a name that would be used
extensively across the lawnmower industry for years to come. I guess it was a
derivative automotive name.

It is also timely that I should mention the significance of the name 'Sheerline' here.
The Sheerline was the first of nautical and diplomatic naming conventions that
Victa would use in the following years of the 1960s [Ambassador, Cadet, Consul,
Corvette, Envoy, and Viceroy.] Brilliant!

It is unclear why Victa regressed in cosmetic design from the Model 9 to the Model 6;
but there is a design similarity between the squarish Four Star and Sheerline cowlings
for the 1962 range.

Also note the silliness of Victa offering the Standard and Utility mowers.
Victa would sort that nonsense the following season.